Thursday, November 26, 2015

School note November 26th

26-11-2015

Dear parents,

                    I wish to bring the following to your attention.

                    Parent teacher meetings are going ahead again today between 3.15 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. With 273 children in the school, it is important to stick to your allocated time. If you are unable to keep an appointment for some reason, please contact the school and we will arrange a suitable date.

                    Members of the Board of Management of the school met last night. Deirdre McCarthy, Corcamore, and Jimmy Hartigan, Church Road were nominated as Community representatives. The new Board takes up office on December 1st. Thanks to John Hannon and Ann Curtin who have served as parent nominees for the last eight years along with Community representatives Helen Kennedy and Annette Noonan. Sarah Keyes has served as teachers' nominee for the past four years and is replaced by Sheila Hayes.

                    Yesterday, over 50 children represented the school at the Limerick Cross Country championships at Patrickswell Racecourse. It was an unseasonably mild day and it was a most enjoyable experience. Thanks to all the parents who attended on the day for their help. It was greatly appreciated.

                    The Book Fair will take place on Thursday December 3rd and Friday December 4th. Books will be available for viewing by all classes on Thursday December 3rd.  The Parents Association are looking for volunteers with the Book Fair.  If you are available to assist on Thursday 3rd December, between 2pm - 4pm or between  7.30pm and 9.00pm, or on Friday 4th December between 9am-10am or from 2pm to 3.30pm, please text Susan MacNamara on 087-2257625.         

                    School will close for all pupils on Tuesday December 1st at 1.45 p.m. The inspectors who carried out the Whole School Evaluation are visiting the school to give their feedback on that day.

                             Ballybrown GAA Juvenile Club are holding their End of Year Meeting in the GAA Club tonight, Thursday 26th @ 9pm.  Parents of children playing hurling & football from U6's to U16's are invited to attend.  All help needed for our teams for the 2016 Season.
                     FAMILY FUN QUIZ: A great night was had by all who attended the Family Quiz in the Resource Centre last Friday night. Competition was keen, brains were tested, ages were calculated and cakes were eaten ! Prize winners as follows : 1st McGrath Family, (The McGrafia) 2nd Musgrave Family, ( The Only Way Is Up) 3rd Cantillon Mann Family (The Cúinne Dána)). 4th Harrington Family (The Hip Hoppers). Thanks to all who attended and supported.

                        BALLYBROWN JOURNAL:The fifteenth edition of the Ballybrown Parish Journal will be launched by Fr. Eamonn Fitzgibbon on Monday night next November 30th in the Ballybrown GAA Clubhouse at 9.00pm. All welcome.

Gach dea-ghuí,

J. Lyons

Principal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Ballybrown GAA Juvenile Club are holding their End of Year Meeting in

the GAA Club on Thursday 26th @ 9pm.  Parents of children playing hurling & football

from U6's to U16's are invited to attend.  All help needed for our teams for the 2016 Season.

 

 

Camogie Club AGM

Ballybrown Camogie Club will hold its AGM on Sunday November 22nd at 8.30 p.m. in the clubhouse. Parents, coaches, player over 16 years of age, or anybody interested in getting involved with the club-please come along . All welcome!

School note November 19th 2015

Dear parents,

                     I wish to bring the following to your attention.

                      The school was visited by two inspectors from the DES this week to carry out a Whole School Evaluation of Management, Leadership and Learning. The process began at 9 a.m. on Monday and finished at 5.30 p.m. yesterday. The inspectors visited all classrooms and Special Education settings and studied documents relating to curricular and organisational policies and long and short-term planning. They also inspected data relating to Standardised tests, Literacy and Numeracy, School Self Evaluation and School Improvement plans. The inspectors met with the Chairman of the Board of Management on Monday and officers of the Parents Association on Tuesday. They met with the Special Education team on Tuesday and the In-school Management team on Wednesday. They met with the Principal from 3.30 to 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday. They were very positive in all their comments. They will return to the school for a post-Evaluation meeting in December.

               Board of Management: A meeting took place on Tuesday night to elect parent nominees to the Board of Management. John Collins and Catherine Smith were elected to serve on the new Board which takes up duties on December 1st for a four-year term.

             Parent- teacher meetings take place on Wednesday and Thursday 25th. and 26th.  of November from 3.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.    All families have received appointments in the post. If you wish to meet a Special Needs teacher, please do so before or after meeting your child's class teacher.                               

                National Parents Council Primary and Post Primary have developed an Anti Bullying Programme for parents of both primary and post primary children. The aim of this course is to enable you to support your child regarding issues of bullying and will also inform you of new procedures for both Primary and Post Primary schools. Each session runs for two and half hours and is provided free of charge. For anyone interested in attending please use the following link http://www.npc.ie/training.aspx?contentid=6771.

 

Gach dea-ghuí,


J. Lyons

Principal

 

Ballybrown Camogie Club holds its AGM on Sunday November 22nd at 8 p.m. in the clubhouse.

Parents, coaches, players over 16... please come along and get involved!

 

WE'D LOVE TO SEE YOU THERE : FAMILY FUN QUIZ TOMORROW (Friday 20th) in Ballybrown/Clarina Community Resource Centre at 7.30pm.  €20 per table (max. 5 people) Complimentary refreshments and great fun for all the family guaranteed ! Tickets are limited to 20 tables and are on sale at the Resource Centre and School Office. Thank you for your continuing support of the Community Centre.

 

 

 

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Anti Bullying Programme

National Parents Council Primary and Post Primary have developed an Anti Bullying Programme for parents of both primary and post primary children. The aim of this course is to enable you to support your child regarding issues of bullying and will also inform you of new procedures for both Primary and Post Primary schools. Each session is runs for two and half hours and is provided free of charge. For anyone interested in attending please use the following link http://www.npc.ie/training.aspx?contentid=6771.

School Note November 12th

12-11-2015

Dear parents,

                     I wish to bring the following to your attention.

                     Next week, the school will be the subject of a Whole School Examination (WSE) with the focus on Management, Leadership and Learning. This will  begin on Monday morning and continue for 3-4 days. It will be carried out by inspectors from the DES. Parents in Junior Infants, First, Third and Fifth classes have received questionnaires relating to their views on this school. Please note that the deadline for return of these forms is tomorrow, Friday 13th., at 3 p.m.

                Parent- teacher meetings take place on Wednesday and Thursday 25th. and 26th.  of November from 3.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.    All families have received appointments in the post.                              

               The  term of the Board of Management will expire on November 30th and a new Board of Management takes up office in December. A meeting for parents will be held at the school on   Tuesday November 17th. at 8 p.m.   Two parents of children enrolled in the school (one being a mother and the other a father) will be elected at the meeting.

              Today, our School Assembly for November was hosted by Rang a Cúig.

Polo shirts were presented to our hurlers who played in the Ard Scoil Rís blitz. Eight boys and girls who achieved scores of 100 or more in the Manga High online Maths challenge were presented with their medals. The 8 are: Barry Toomey, Seán O Brien, Bláithín Musgrave, Adam O Connor, Hannah Cliffe-Byrnes, Emer Conroy, Maeve Curtin and Ruth Hannon. Well done on a great achievement.

           Best wishes to Alex Connole, Olivia Kerins, Tadhg Hannon and Darragh O Sullivan who line out on the Limerick City football  teams today in the Sarsfield Cup and Larkin Shield.

Christmas shopping?  The Book Fair will take place on Thursday December 3rd and Friday December 4th. Books will be available for viewing by all classes on Wednesday December 2nd.

             Parking: As the weather deteriorates, it is important for parents to be conscious at all times of safety in the vicinity of the school. I wish to highlight particularly children crossing from the Car Park to the school entrance. Nobody should park in that area at any time.

Community news: Get your tickets now for the FAMILY FUN QUIZ in Ballybrown/Clarina Community Resource Centre on Friday November 20th at 7.30pm.  €20 per table (max. 5 people) Complimentary refreshments and great fun for all the family guaranteed ! Tickets are limited to 20 tables and are on sale at the Resource Centre and School Office.

 

Gach dea-ghuí,

 

J. Lyons

Principal

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Cancellation of cross country running

Cross Country Cancellation Notice



To all Schools

It is with sincere regret that I have to inform you that we have had to cancel this year's Primary Schools Cross Country which was due to be held on Wednesday 11th November in Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale.

Following an inspection of the venue on Monday with the site manager, it was determined that the recent spate of bad weather which is due to continue for the rest of this week and the effect that the persistent rain of late which has caused the pitches to become unusable in places and the long term damage that the 1100 children taking part in the event may cause

We did attempt to come up with an alternative venue and date but we were advised that this would be too impractical at such short notice.

Therefore, on behalf of the committee and myself, I would like to apologise for the disappointment that this cancellation at such short notice may cause, especially to those of you who have already made travel arrangements and to the children and their coaches who have put in many hours preparing for this event. Unfortunately, these were circumstances which were beyond our control.

Hopefully we will be able to secure a new venue for the event in 2016 that will be capable of catering for the increasing numbers of participants.

Schools that have paid their entry fees for this event these will be returned over the next couple of days.



Yours sincerely,

Mossie Woulfe

Thursday, November 5, 2015

School Self Evaluation report on Literacy

Summary School Self-Evaluation Report

 

 

1. Introduction

Our school has its own context.  There are 15 teachers and 271 pupils in the school.  We have a number of programmes operating in the school including Shared Reading, Peer Tutoring, Buddy Reading and also Early Intervention for Infants. Our attendance levels are excellent. Our pupils' behaviour is excellent. For more information on how we intend to improve our pupils' learning, please see our website / newsletter. 

 

1.1   The focus of the evaluation

 

We undertook a school self-evaluation of teaching and learning during the year. We evaluated Literacy.  We chose this because we felt that our pupils could improve their learning outcomes in this  area.   

This report summarises the strengths that were identified and the areas that have been prioritised for improvement.

2. Summary of school self-evaluation findings

 

We collected information from parents, pupils and teachers in preparing this report.  We looked at how well our pupils were doing in Literacy. We also looked at our Standardised \test results.

 

2.1 We found that our school has strengths in the following areas:

 

 

Strengths

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·        49.8% of pupils are performing above the national  average compared with 25% nationally.

·        The school's average score in the Drumcondra Primary Reading Test is 110.4 which is well ahead  of the national average of 100.

·        76% of Infants liked reading.72% of pupils surveyed in the middle classes liked reading  while 74% of the senior pupils did so.

·        89% of parents surveyed reported that their children enjoyed reading and 94% thought their children were succeeding at reading. 62% said their children enjoyed writing stories and 77% enjoyed learning spellings.

·        Teachers report that they use a variety of teaching approaches in the teaching of Literacy.

·        Early Intervention to support children with difficulties is in place.

·        There is a library of reading books in each classroom.

·        Shared Reading is used from Junior Infants to 2nd class.

·        A Peer Tutoring reading project takes place in 3rd class.

·        Buddy reading takes place in 1st and 6th classes.

 

 

 

We know these are our strengths because of the information yielded from surveys of parents teachers, children and also from test results

 

.2.2 We have decided to prioritise the following areas for development:

·        Comprehension

·        Oral Language Development

       ·       Writing

 

  

 

School note November 5th, 2015

5-11-2015.
Dear parents,
                     Eight children from Ballybrown NS have been awarded medals for achieving scores in excess of 100 points in the Manga High Maths online challenge. This is a great achievement. Well done to all pupils who took part.
                    Tomorrow, the children from First to Fourth classes visit the University Concert Hall for a performance by the Cork Pops Orchestra.
                     On Wednesday November 11th, almost sixty boys and girls will represent the school at the Limerick Cross Country sports in Rathkeale.
                   Parent- teacher meetings will take place on Wednesday 25th and Thursday November 26th from 3.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. All parents will receive notification of their appointments in the post in the next few days.
                   This school will be the subject of a Whole School Evaluation (WSE) of Management, Leadership and Learning during the week starting Monday November 16th. The WSE will be carried out by two inspectors of the Department of Education and Skills. Children in some classes will receive questionnaires for parents to fill. Children in two classes in the senior half of the school will be asked to complete simple questionnaires on their experience of school.
                 For those of you who were unable to attend the AGM of the school's Parents' Association, please see the school website or the email that follows this for a summary of the School Self- Evaluation Report on Literacy. I included this topic in my presentation on that night.
                Christmas shopping?  The Book Fair will take place on Thursday December 3rd and Friday December 4th. Books will be available for viewing by all classes on Wednesday December 2nd.
              First Holy Communion: A meeting for parents of children in the First Communion class will take place on Tuesday November 10th from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. in the school Hall.
           Health Promoting Schools: Limerick Sports Partnership a 'Step into Winter' 5 km run, starting at City Hall on Saturday November 7th at 11 a.m. If any families attend, please e mail photos to the school for our Health Promoting Schools file.

        Gach dea-ghuí,

       J. Lyons
       Principal


FAMILY FUN QUIZ in Ballybrown/Clarina Community Resource Centre on Friday November 20th at 7.30pm.  €20 per table (max. 5 people) Complimentary refreshments and great fun guaranteed ! Tickets are limited to 20 tables and are on sale at the Resource Centre and School Office.